Limmud FSU - A Retrospective

Limmud FSU A Retrospective
2014 - Looking Back with Pride
Limmud FSU
Celebrates
Nine Years of
Successful
Activity
Our ninth year, encompassing an
intensive program of festivals, conferences, events and exhibitions,
has come to a close and we are glad
to present in the following pages,
this retrospective account of some
of the highlights. First and foremost,
we would like to welcome to our
leadership ranks, Rabbi Yechiel
Eckstein, President of the International Fellowship of Christians and
Jews, who has agreed to serve as
dean of Limmud FSU (see “New
Faces” on page 16.)
We held nine events in seven different countries which were attended
by over 5,000 Russian-speaking
Jews. With our tenth anniversry in a
year’s time already within our sights,
we continue to bring Jewish culture
in its widest sense to a generation
of (mostly) young people who were
deprived for so many years of exposure to Jewish life, culture, education. These are the qualities that we
have pledged ourselves to impart to
this new generation, together with a
spirit of national identity – wherever
they may be – not just in the countries of the former Soviet Union, but
across the world.
This rich program could not have
taken place without the support and
backing of many devoted partners,
donors and friends, both private and
institutional (see page 14).
They have our heartfelt appreciation
and thanks.
‫ל‬
‫ל‬
Matthew Bronfman
Aaron Frenkel
Yechiel Eckstein
Chair, Limmud FSU
International Steering
Committee
President, Limmud FSU
Dean, Limmud FSU
Another Packed Year
MAJOR EVENTS IN
2014
It is with a distinct feeling of pride and achievement that we look
back on the previous year’s activities marking nine years since we
founded Limmud FSU “on a wing and a prayer,” back in 2006.
The world around us has changed radically since
then – and the Jewish world together with it. With
free immigration from the USSR beginning in the late
1980’s, Russian-speaking Jews have spread across
the world (nearly one million to Israel alone), while
others choosing to remain in their countries of origin
are rebuilding a world of Jewish involvement in their
own communities.
We at Limmud FSU are a prime facilitator of all this.
Our conferences, festivals and events bring a spirit of
intellectual freedom and enquiry to Russian-speakers
in a pluralistic, egalitarian, non-demanding atmosphere of study (Limmud) in the broadest sense.
Anything “Jewish” is grist to our mill: not just the Bible
and Talmud, important as they are, but Jewish history,
culture, prose and poetry, theater, dance, music, folklore, the Arab-Jewish conflict, the Middle East, Israeli
politics - even Jewish cuisine, and much more.
administration of each event. It is this spirit of volunteerism, which was a guiding principle of the first Limmud in the UK, over 34 years ago, that motivates and
drives Limmud FSU. This is even more remarkable
inasmuch as the concept of volunteering was virtually
unknown in the USSR where the ruling authorities
were meant to provide everything.
1150
The following pages give the highlights of the past
year and we enter 2015 – our tenth year! – with great
enthusiasm and anticipation. Three new venues will
join the Limmud FSU community – Melbourne, Australia, in March, Kazan in the Volga region of Russia in
September and in Los Angeles for the US West Coast
early in 2016. All that apart from the usual program
of ongoing events in the countries of the FSU, Israel,
USA and Canada.
We look forward to meeting many of you at a Limmud
FSU event during the coming year.
800
Moscow
Nor of course would there be a Limmud FSU without
the enthusiastic and devoted support of our donors
and sponsors. From the outset they have appreciated the importance of the challenge and rose to it
nobly. 30,000 Russian-speaking Jews owe them an
enormous vote of appreciation.
750
700
New York
Parsippany
New Jersey
350 80
Participants
In that time, we estimate that about 30,000 young
Russian speaking people, overwhelmingly in their 20s
to 40s, have been exposed for the first time to their
Jewish heritage, which, under 70 years of Communist
rule in the USSR, was suppressed or expressly forbidden. Only a handful of brave and devoted individuals were able to teach Hebrew and something of Jewish tradition – many of whom paid for their attempts
by long prison sentences.
March
April
Kishinev
(Moldova)
11 communities
May
June
Vitebsk
(Belarus)
500 600
Toronto
(Canada)
Global
Summit
(Israel)
September
October
Lviv
(Ukraine)
Kinneret
(Israel)
350
St. Petersburg
(Russia)
November
December
None of this would be possible without the active
involvement of the volunteers who take upon themselves, the planning, programming, recruitment and
‫ת‬
‫א‬
‫ל‬
Chaim Chesler
Founder, Chair,
Executive Committee
Sandra Cahn
Co-Founder, Chair,
FRD Committee
Roman Kogan
Executive Director
3
Limmud FSU 2014
LIMMUD
FSU
2014
EVENT BY
EVENT
6 March
Limmud FSU Israel:
Jerusalem
Bronfman Memorial
Limmud FSU co-sponsored a memorial event devoted to the life of Edgar Bronfman (1929-2013),
together with Hillel Israel and the Bronfman Youth
Fellowships. The event, held in the Israel Museum,
celebrated the life of the famous philanthropist and
entrepreneur, who was involved in and supported
so many Jewish activities, including Limmud FSU.
The event was attended by some 200 associates,
admirers, colleagues and family friends, including
MK Isaac Herzog, Museum Director James Snyder, Edgar’s son Matthew, who is Chairman of the
International Steering Committee of Limmud FSU,
Avraham Infield, President of Hillel Israel and other
leaders of Jewish institutions in the United States,
Israel and elsewhere. Limmud FSU produced a memorial booklet “Edgar M. Bronfman: The Man. The
Life” which included tributes from Presidents Barack
Obama, Bill Clinton and Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Speaker of the Knesset
Yuli Edelstein and others.
28-30 March
Limmud FSU USA:
New York
The fifth Limmud FSU event for Russian-speakers to be held in the United
States took place at the Sheraton Parsippany Hotel, New Jersey and was attended
by 750 participants, mostly aged between
20 and 40, mainly from the greater New
York and New Jersey areas. The theme
of this year’s event was “Innovation” and
many of the nearly 90 sessions, dealt directly or tangentially in innovative thinking,
research, business initiatives and technological developments, including a program
for children aged three to 12 which also
included innovative concepts. Presenters
included the popular Israeli writer Lihi
Lapid, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the entrepreneur Eli Itin of Amdocs, the philanthropist Feliks Frenkel and Adam Shwartz,
director of the Technion-Cornell Innovation
Institute. Alina Bitel, Chair of Limmud FSU
in the USA says, “Limmud FSU New York
allows us to write our own story where everything that happens is a reflection of our
unique heritage and our passions. It gives
us a voice in the very important contemporary American-Jewish dialogue and helps
us claim our name and place.”
5
Limmud FSU 2014
24-27 April
23-25 May
12-16 June
Moscow was the venue of the first Limmud FSU
conference back in 2006 and is still the largest
annual event. This year for the ninth conference,
1,150 participants gathered at the Klyazma Retreat
Center, some 12 kilometers from the city, and had
the choice of a massive 175 sessions, with as many
as eight taking place simultaneously, leaving the
participant with agonizing decisions on what to see
and hear and what had to be missed, delivered by
nearly 150 presenters. Among prominent speakers
were Prof. Raphael Walden, the chair of “Physicians for Human Rights,” on ethics and medicine in
times of conflict, and his wife, Prof. Tzvia Walden
(the daughter of then President Shimon Peres), on
the psychology of speech, many film presentations
followed by discussions, and workshops on music,
dance, jewelry-making, baking challot for Shabbat,
and much more. A video interview was held with
Bel Kaufman, the author and grand-daughter of the
famous Yiddish writer Shalom Aleichem – her last
interview just three months before her death at the
age of 103. A special event and exhibit was held
marking the centennial of the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee.
The second Limmud FSU to take place in Moldova,
was held at the Chişinău Labor Institute with sponsorship from the Jewish Community of Moldova and
the US Embassy. With one of the smallest Jewish
communities in Europe, the conference was attended by 350 people who had the choice of 80 different
sessions. In a country where the average salary is
50 dollars a month, a decision by so many young
Jewish people to invest in a participation fee is clear
proof of their desire to draw closer to Judaism and
to share in the Jewish dialectic. Chișinău (then
Kishinev) is embedded in the Jewish consciousness
because of the infamous pogrom of 1903, immortalized in Chaim Nachman Bialik’s iconic poem
“City of Slaughter." Participants heard lectures from
academics, journalists, business people from Moldova, Russia and Israel, and had the opportunity
of joining workshops on handbag-making, pottery
and even the Israeli-invented krav maga system of
self-defense. A Limmid volunteer, Yulia Sheinman,
says, “Limmud expands your knowledge not just
for young people – the elderly also find their place
here.”
This bi-annual gathering of the world
Limmud FSU leadership took place at the
Jerusalem Gardens Hotel and gathered
together some 80 activists and volunteers
from nine countries and eleven projects,
including from Australia and Canada where
Limmud FSU conferences were going to
be held for the first time; (Canada, see below; Australia in March 2015.) The packed
program included lectures on developing
Limmud, courting the media, the new strategic partnership with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, developing
volunteerism and sharing knowledge and
Limmud FSU, Russia:
Moscow
6
Limmud FSU 2014
Limmud FSU Moldova:
Chişinău
Limmud FSU Global Leadership
Summit, Jerusalem
know-how with other Limmud FSU teams.
The participants visited the Knesset and
were addressed by several ministers and
Knesset members, including Faina
Kirshenbaum, Ronen Hoffman, Elazar
Stern, Omer Bar-Lev, Zeev Elkin, Isaac
Herzog, and Ronen Plot, Director-General
of the Knesset. Some of the participants
had the opportunity to attend a concert by
Idan Raichel at Massada, others went on
guided walking tours of Jerusalem,
attended the city’s Festival of Lights and
visited the Israel Museum.
7
Limmud FSU 2014
8
Limmud FSU 2014
12-14 September
26-29 September
Limmud FSU Belarus:
Vitebsk
Limmud FSU Australia:
Melbourne
The second Belarus conference took place
in Vitebsk (the previous – first – one in the
city had featured the artist Marc Chagall
who was born there.) This one was called
Arts Limmud and was devoted to a wide
range of artistic topics and took place in
three venues: the Arts Museum, the
Lyalka Theater and the National Academic
Theater, with 700 participants. True to its
name, many of the 114 sessions were devoted to the arts –literature, poetry, theater
and film. Yuri Tabac spoke about Judaism
and culture, Tatiania Rudenko gave a master-class on culture and the arts,
Mordechai Yushkovsky spoke about
Yiddish culture in the USSR, Mark
Galesnik spoke about Jewish humor and
The first planning conference for this event
which will be held at the Mantra Conference Resort at Lorne on the Great Ocean
Road, near Melbourne in March 2015 (see
page 2), took place in Melbourne, where
the outlines of the forthcoming event – the
first in Australia - were drawn up and a
project manager, Tania Shvartsman, was
appointed (see page 16). The meeting was
attended by 25 members of the planning
committee chaired by Sasha Klyachinka,
with volunteers from the Russian Jewish
there were workshops in music and dance.
The Israeli television personality and celebrity chef, Gil Hovav, gave a talk about
his great-grandfather, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
(born in Belarus), who was responsible for
the resurrection of Hebrew as a spoken
language, and after the conference, a Limmud delegation visited the family home
of Ben-Yehuda in Luzhky. A special photographic exhibition on the life of the late
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (whose family
came from Belarus) was shown with the
participation of Gilad Sharon, younger son
of the late prime minister.
community and graduates of leadership
programs of the Zionist Federation of Australia and the Jewish Agency (“Kangarusski”) and with the participation of Roman
Kogan, Executive Director of Limmud FSU.
Tania Borodach, a member of the planning
team, says, “ At Limmud we can be as
Jewish as we want and help other connect
to their Jewish selves.”
9
Limmud FSU 2014
24-26 October
10
Limmud FSU 2014
2013
6-9 November
Limmud FSU Canada:
Toronto
Limmud FSU Ukraine:
Lviv
For the first time ever and planned to be an annual
event, a Limmud FSU convention was held in
Canada with substantial support from the UJA New
York Federation. “Kultura Kanada” took place at the
Deerhurst resort in Muskoga, Ontario, near Toronto,
and was attended by over 500 participants, including the Israeli Minister of Culture and Sport, Limor
Livnat. The Honorary Chair was Prof. Irwin Cotler
and the whole event was planned and executed by
a team of local volunteers. The nearly 100 sessions,
most of them on culture-related topics, featured
speakers such as Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the noted British publicist, Melanie Philips, Irwin Cotler on
global anti-Semitism; a panel on entrepreneurship;
workshops on Jewish cooking, yoga, olive oil, kosher winemaking; lectures on Jewish gangsters in
old Odessa; Jewish matchmaking; Canadian Jews
– a unique community; the Shiksa; Jewish, Russian
and gay; Kabbalat Shabbat and Shaharit morning
services. During the course of the conference a special display was shown illustrating the life of the late
Prime Minister, Menachem Begin.
More than 600 people from across Ukraine
came to Lviv (Lvov) and filled the city’s
Dniester Hotel from wall to wall. The local
team had arranged a packed program
of 150 sessions. Highlights were a video talk with Krystyna Chiger who spent
14 months concealed with her family in
the Lvov sewers during the war and was
saved by Leopold Socha, a Ukrainian
sewer worker; the Israeli ambassadors to
Belarus and Ukraine; Vladimir Bystryakov,
a noted composer; the painter Alexander
Okun; the actor Victor Shenderovich; the
artist Victoria Kovalchuk; and the singer
Marina Maximilian, who had the packed
crowd raising the rafters at the closing
gala party. A Limmud FSU sponsored visit
took place to the town of Rivne (Rovno,)
where the mother of the celebrated Israeli
writer, Amos Oz, was born. There at a
special ceremony in the presence of the
city’s mayor, Amos Oz’s daughter, Prof.
Fania Oz-Salzberger, dedicated a memorial plaque and visited sites associated with
the family as lovingly recalled in her
father's, “A Tale of Love and Darkness,”
his autobiographical memoir. The story of
the visit was extensively covered in the
local and Israeli press and television.
11
Limmud FSU 2014
Limmud FSU 2014
28-30 November
Limmud FSU Russia:
St. Petersburg
Home to the second largest Jewish
community in Russia after Moscow, and
thought by many to be its cultural capital,
its 100,000 Jews enjoy a rich and flourishing intellectual, social and cultural life. At
the New Peterhof Hotel, 350 participants
mainly from Northwest Russia, in this the
fourth Limmud FSU conference in the city,
had a choice of 80 sessions given by as
many presenters. An emotional occasion
was the participation of Yosef Mendelevich, the Soviet dissident. Repeatedly
refused of the right to immigration, he be-
12
came one of the leaders of the attempted
hijacking of a Russian plane from what
was then Leningrad, in 1969 in order to escape the country. As punishment, he was
imprisoned for eleven years. In1981 after a
worldwide campaign he was released and
immigrated to Israel. Another highlight was
the participation of Leah Koenig, one of
the first ladies of the Israel stage returning
to her place of birth. A special party was
given by Limmud FSU to mark the 85th
birthday of the actress.
11-13 December
Limmud FSU Israel: Kinneret
Conference, Kibbutz Ginosar
With over 800 participants, this event
had to suspend registration when it was
already oversubscribed shortly after registration opened. The kibbutz guest house
was overflowing for the 124 sessions given
by over 60 presenters. A central topic was
the life and work of Rachel the Poetess
who lived and wrote about the Kinneret
(Sea of Galilee) with which her name is
indelibly linked. At a lively opening event,
Students of the Beit Zvi Acting Studio in
Tel Aviv presented a tribute to many of
Rachel’s iconic poems which have been
set to music. Popular speakers included
Justice of the Supreme Court, Elyakim Rubinstein speaking about the court, Elazar
Stern and others on conversion, Avshalom Kur, the philologist who explained
the meaning of Maoz Zur, the Hanukkah
song, Gideon Meir on Israeli diplomacy,
the noted Russian writer Alexander Genis
on his work, Eli Cohen of the iInternational
Fellowship of Christians and Jews on Beit
Shemesh as a microcosm of immigration,
Yoram Dori, advisor to former President
Shimon Peres, the historian Uri Millstein
taking about his great-aunt Rachel the
Poetess, a video interview with the writer
Amos Oz by four Israeli journalists following the Limmud FSU visit last month of his
daughter, Prof. Fania Oz-Salzberger, to the
home of his mother (see Lviv, page 11.)
13
Limmud FSU 2014
Limmud FSU 2014
10
9
3
6
8
4
7
5
1
11
2
Provisional Plans for 2015
Limmud Across the Globe
1
West Coast USA planning seminar: 23-25 January
7
Volga Region, Kazan, Russia - 4-6 September
2
Melbourne, Australia: 8-9 March
8
Ukraine – 9-12 October
3
New York, Parsippany, NJ: 27-29 March
9
Toronto, Canada - 23-25 October
4
Moscow - 23-26 April
10 St. Petersburg – 27-29 November
5
Chişinău (Kishinev), Moldova - 22-24 May
11 Kibbutz Ginosar, Israel – 17-19 December
6
Belarus: July
Limmud FSU Sponsors
Limmud FSU Online
Without the following friends, partners, donors and associates, Limmud FSU
events could not take place. They all have our deepest thanks.
www.limmudfsu.org
International Fellowship of
Christians and Jews
Matthew Bronfman
Aaron Frenkel
Conference for Jewish
Material Claims against
Germany
American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee
Diane Wohl
Israel Ministry of Jerusalem
and Diaspora Affairs
Israel Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
Jewish National Fund (KKL)
Prime Minister’s Office –
Nativ
Jewish Agency for Israel
UJA Federation of New York
14
Limmud FSU
Leadership and Staff
Cahn Family Foundation
Chester Foundation
David Kislin
Dr. Nona International
Dutch Jewish Humanitarian
Fund
Edward Mermelstein
Feliks Frenkel
IKEA Israel
Israel Bonds
Israel Discount Bank
Israel Ministry of Immigrant
Absorption
Jerry Levin
Joe Cooper
Keren Hayesod (United Israel
Appeal)
L. A. Pincus Fund for Jewish
Education in the Diaspora
Mark Tsesarsky
Mark Wilf
Menachem Begin Heritage
Center, Jerusalem
Michael Zurakhinsky
Mikhail Mirilashvili
Richard Maidman
Ron Hersh
Ruben Landsberger
Ruth Salomy
Salarc Foundation
Samuel Bronfman Foundation
Shulem Fisher
UJA – Federation of Greater
Toronto
World Zionist Organization
Limmud FSU was established
in 2008 in the State of New
York as a recognized charity,
under the name Limmud FSU
International Foundation, Inc.
If you would like to join us
or know more about our
activities, please contact
Sandra Cahn at:
[email protected]
Israel
www.Limmudfsu.co.il
Moscow
www.limmud.ru
St. Petersburg
www.limmud.spb.ru
Ukraine
www.limmud.org.ua
(English version: en.limmud.org.ua)
Belarus
www.limmud.by
(English version: www.limmud.by/en)
Moldova
www.jcm.md
USA
www.limmudfsuus.org
Canada
www.limmudfsucanada.org
Australia
www.limmudfsu.org.au (under construction)
Matthew Bronfman
Chair, International Steering Committee
Aaron Frenkel
President
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
Dean
Chaim Chesler
Founder, Chair, Executive Committee
Sandra F. Cahn
Co-founder, Chair FRD Committee
Roman Kogan
Executive Director
Chaim Nagus
Finance and Management Consultant
Asher Weill
English Editor
Yaroslav Brooke
Information and Resources Development
Olga Noa Lavie
Website Administrator, Social Media, PR in Russian
Arik Puder
Public Relations and Press
Regional Leadership
Osik Akselrud
Chair, Limmud in Ukraine
Raffi Heltzer
Limmud Russian-Speakers, Israel
Yan Birbraer
Project Manager, Israel
(and General Logistics Manager Limmud FSU)
Galina Rybnikova
Project Manager, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus
Tatyana Pashaeva
Project Manager, Russian Federation
Noam Shumakh-Khaimov
Project Manager, USA
Mila Voihansky
Country Director, Canada
Tania Shvartsman
Project Manager, Australia
15
Limmud FSU 2014
NEW FACES
‫ק‬
‫ר‬
‫ב‬
‫א‬
Rabbi Yechiel Z. Eckstein
Olga Noa Lavie
Born in 1951, he received rabbinical ordination from
Yeshiva University and is the Founder and President
of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
He is the author of seven books on Jewish topics
and is recognized as the leading Jewish authority on
evangelical Christianity and has written extensively on
the subject. He served as an advisor to former Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon and was appointed Goodwill
Ambassador of the State of Israel, with special
emphasis on Israel’s relationships with the evangelical
communities. He is on the board of directors of the
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and
Dean of Jewish Thought and Studies at Limmud FSU.
Was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1983 and immigrated to
Israel in 2005. She is a public relations professional
and journalist living in Tel Aviv and has been with Limmud FSU for the last 12 months. She studied journalism, television production and international relations
and worked as a radio anchor, correspondent and
editor and as an advisor on public relations to several
Israeli political figures. She speaks Russian, Ukrainian,
Hebrew and English and pronounces herself to be a
“passionate Zionist.” Her hobbies are the culinary arts
and food photography, fashion, and public diplomacy.
At Limmud she is administrator of the new website
www.limmudfsu.org and social media, as well as public and press relations in Russian. She replaces Boris
Schindler who served for several years as a volunteer
and we would like to acknowledge his help and devoted attention.
‫ק‬
‫ר‬
‫ב‬
‫א‬
16
Tatyana (Tanya) Pashaeva
Tatiana (Tania) Shvartsman
Was born in 1989 in the small town of Millerovo, in the
Rostov region of Russia, and was active in different
youth organizations. After graduation she left for
Moscow and graduated from the National Research
University Higher School of Economics with an MA
degree in marketing management and completed a
course on project management for non-profit organizations. Five years ago she attended her first Limmud
FSU Moscow Conference. She liked it so much that
the following year, she became a volunteer and eventually joined the Moscow organizing committee. She
enjoys travel, studying foreign languages, reading and
listening to music and hates waiting, writing about
herself and lazy weekends. Tanya is replacing Jenya
Nemirovskaya who is leaving us to raise a family.
Jenya has been with Limmud from the outset and we
wish her the best of luck in whatever direction her
future takes her.
Was born in Tiraspol, Moldova in 1987 and migrated
with her family to Australia in 1992. She has a degree
from Deakin University, Melbourne in management,
human relations and marketing and speaks English
and Russian. In 2010, she went on a Birthright trip to
Israel and that is when her Jewish identity took a turn.
She worked for the Zionist Federation of Australia and
then for the Hagashama project of the Jewish Agency.
She is the first Limmud FSU project manager for Australia and says: "My first encounter with Limmud was
via the "KangaRusski" Leadership program. As many
other Russian Jews in Australia, I had no idea such
a thing existed. I believe that Limmud FSU Australia
will be the catalyst for the future engagement of the
Russian-speaking Jewish community in Australia. This
is a huge untapped market, and we are here to make
a change!"
Text and Editing; Asher Weill // Design and Production: Ira Ginsburg